Asra Nomani Biography

One of the last people to see her best friend, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, alive, Asra Nomani figures prominently in the acclaimed film, A Mighty Heart, starring Angelina Jolie. The film captures Daniel's wife Mariane and as they struggle to get answers and provide each other consolation and support during the dark days surrounding his abduction and murder. Nomani continues to search for the truth about who killed Daniel through The Pearl Project, an investigative program she now heads at Georgetown University.

Nomani, a Muslim born in India who later immigrated to America with her family, is a former Wall Street Journal correspondent who had written on Islam and the Middle East for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Time. She covered and analyzed the major events taking place, as well as reported from the front lines on the post 9-11 conflict in Afghanistan and throughout the region.

Today, Nomani also focuses on reclaiming women’s rights in the Muslim world and wrote the critically-acclaimed Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam on this subject. She is also a courageous activist and advocate for all women, in the US and worldwide, on such issues as equality, social and economic justice, and domestic abuse.

The Paradox of Women in Islam

In this presentation, journalist, author, and speaker Asra Nomani • who was born into a conservative Muslim family from India • chronicles the struggle Muslim women face in reclaiming the rights women were granted at Islam's birth in the seventh century, which have since been erased by centuries of man-made rules and tribal traditions masqueraded as divine law.
To many, the Islamic feminist movement is filled with "the bad girls of Islam." But Nomani argues that their efforts are not anti-Islamic • rather, they use the fundamentals of Islamic thinking (the Koran; the Sunnah, or traditions and sayings of the prophet Muhammad; and Ijtihad, or independent reasoning) to challenge the ways in which Islam has been distorted by Sharia rulings issued by ultraconservative men. From the mosque to the bedroom, Muslim women have begun to challenge customs that deny them their basic rights, in such areas as gender segregation, mandatory veiling, forced early marriages, clitorectomies, polygamy, death for sex outside of marriage, domestic violence, and strict domestic roles. Nomani shares her personal story of empowerment, in which she walked through the front door of her mosque in Morgantown, West Virginia, in 2003, and gathered up the strength to go into the main hall reserved for men only.
The struggle, she asserts, is to move Islam forward by reaching back to its progressive past. The effort, she says, is nothing short of a revolution.

The Mosque in Morgantown: Dilemmas Facing American Islam

Speaker Asra Nomani got a firsthand glimpse of Islamic extremism when her dear friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Daniel Pearl was murdered in Pakistan. When she returned home to West Virginia to raise her son, she found warning signs of extremism at the local mosque: the exclusion of women, intolerance toward non-believers, and suspicion of the West.
Her resulting campaign against extremism in the Islamic Center of Morgantown brought a storm of media attention, unexpectedly pitting her against the mosque's moderates.
Based on the gripping PBS documentary The Mosque in Morgantown, Nomani frames this local conflict as a means to explore the larger dilemmas facing American Islam.

Danny Pearl: The Truth Left Behind

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani was a friend and colleague of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. In fact, he and his wife were visiting her home in Karachi, Pakistan, when he went off for the interview from which he was kidnapped in 2002. Nomani played a key role in the investigation to try to find Pearl before learning that he had been brutally murdered. Six years later, Nomani is a professor of journalism at Georgetown University, leading the Pearl Project, a faculty-student investigative reporting project that is seeking answers to the questions of who really killed Pearl and why they killed him. The project's reporting has taken Nomani and her class figuratively onto the streets of Karachi and into the trenches of America's "war on terror." The Pearl case serves as a window into important issues related to terrorism, national security, foreign policy, and the challenges Pakistan faces in creating a civil society defined by rule of law.

Author and Muslim feminist rights voice Asra Nomani discusses the fight to confront growing extremism in the Muslim and the Arab World, and the more important battle to strengthen the voices of moderate.

President Barack Obama’s first-ever visit to a U.S. mosque today attracted widespread attention – as well as skepticism, given the president’s role in bombing, spying on, and torturing Muslims throughout his two terms.

Fee Information:
Booking Fees to hire speakers and celebrities are determined based on a number factors and often change without notice. Fee Ranges listed on this website are intended to serve only as a guideline. For the most current celebrity fees or to check availability, please contact a booking agent.

Please Note: All American Speakers Bureau acts only as an entertainment broker/producer for corporate functions, private engagements and special events. All American Speakers Bureau does not claim or represent itself as the exclusive booking agency, business manager, publicist, speakers bureau or management for Asra Nomani or any artists or celebrities on this website.

All American Speakers is a "buyers agent" and exclusively represents talent buyers looking to secure celebrities and speakers for personal appearances, speaking engagements, corporate entertainment, public relations campaigns, commercials and endorsements.

Profiles listed on this website are provided as a resource to our clients, which are meeting and event planners and other buyers of talent in order to provide them with the widest variety and selection of available talent. For more information on how we work and what makes us unique, please read about the All American Speakers Bureau Advantage.

Due to the volume of emails and calls we receive, we can no longer respond to inquiries related to any of the following:

Schedules of upcoming public appearances

Contact info for artists or requests to forward messages.

Artist's TV, stage or film projects or representation

Media requests for print, radio or TV interviews.

Any inquiry not related to hiring talent for paid engagements

Related Tags: Find top-rated keynote speakers, corporate entertainers and famous personalities like Asra Nomani. Find information on booking Asra Nomani for appearances, speaking engagements and endorsements. Your source for booking agency and speaker bureau contact info, as well as how to contact a celebrity talent booking agent that can book Asra Nomani, list of similar top-rated speakers for hire, what is the cost to book a top 10 motivational speaker, musician, comedian or famous athlete like Asra Nomani.

This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.

All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.

If you are the talent, and wish to request removal from this catalog or report an issue with your profile, please click here.

Asra Nomani Biography

One of the last people to see her best friend, Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, alive, Asra Nomani figures prominently in the acclaimed film, A Mighty Heart, starring Angelina Jolie. The film captures Daniel's wife Mariane and as they struggle to get answers and provide each other consolation and support during the dark days surrounding his abduction and murder. Nomani continues to search for the truth about who killed Daniel through The Pearl Project, an investigative program she now heads at Georgetown University.

Nomani, a Muslim born in India who later immigrated to America with her family, is a former Wall Street Journal correspondent who had written on Islam and the Middle East for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Time. She covered and analyzed the major events taking place, as well as reported from the front lines on the post 9-11 conflict in Afghanistan and throughout the region.

Today, Nomani also focuses on reclaiming women’s rights in the Muslim world and wrote the critically-acclaimed Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam on this subject. She is also a courageous activist and advocate for all women, in the US and worldwide, on such issues as equality, social and economic justice, and domestic abuse.

The Paradox of Women in Islam

In this presentation, journalist, author, and speaker Asra Nomani • who was born into a conservative Muslim family from India • chronicles the struggle Muslim women face in reclaiming the rights women were granted at Islam's birth in the seventh century, which have since been erased by centuries of man-made rules and tribal traditions masqueraded as divine law.
To many, the Islamic feminist movement is filled with "the bad girls of Islam." But Nomani argues that their efforts are not anti-Islamic • rather, they use the fundamentals of Islamic thinking (the Koran; the Sunnah, or traditions and sayings of the prophet Muhammad; and Ijtihad, or independent reasoning) to challenge the ways in which Islam has been distorted by Sharia rulings issued by ultraconservative men. From the mosque to the bedroom, Muslim women have begun to challenge customs that deny them their basic rights, in such areas as gender segregation, mandatory veiling, forced early marriages, clitorectomies, polygamy, death for sex outside of marriage, domestic violence, and strict domestic roles. Nomani shares her personal story of empowerment, in which she walked through the front door of her mosque in Morgantown, West Virginia, in 2003, and gathered up the strength to go into the main hall reserved for men only.
The struggle, she asserts, is to move Islam forward by reaching back to its progressive past. The effort, she says, is nothing short of a revolution.

The Mosque in Morgantown: Dilemmas Facing American Islam

Speaker Asra Nomani got a firsthand glimpse of Islamic extremism when her dear friend and former Wall Street Journal colleague Daniel Pearl was murdered in Pakistan. When she returned home to West Virginia to raise her son, she found warning signs of extremism at the local mosque: the exclusion of women, intolerance toward non-believers, and suspicion of the West.
Her resulting campaign against extremism in the Islamic Center of Morgantown brought a storm of media attention, unexpectedly pitting her against the mosque's moderates.
Based on the gripping PBS documentary The Mosque in Morgantown, Nomani frames this local conflict as a means to explore the larger dilemmas facing American Islam.

Danny Pearl: The Truth Left Behind

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani was a friend and colleague of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl. In fact, he and his wife were visiting her home in Karachi, Pakistan, when he went off for the interview from which he was kidnapped in 2002. Nomani played a key role in the investigation to try to find Pearl before learning that he had been brutally murdered. Six years later, Nomani is a professor of journalism at Georgetown University, leading the Pearl Project, a faculty-student investigative reporting project that is seeking answers to the questions of who really killed Pearl and why they killed him. The project's reporting has taken Nomani and her class figuratively onto the streets of Karachi and into the trenches of America's "war on terror." The Pearl case serves as a window into important issues related to terrorism, national security, foreign policy, and the challenges Pakistan faces in creating a civil society defined by rule of law.

Author and Muslim feminist rights voice Asra Nomani discusses the fight to confront growing extremism in the Muslim and the Arab World, and the more important battle to strengthen the voices of moderate.

President Barack Obama’s first-ever visit to a U.S. mosque today attracted widespread attention – as well as skepticism, given the president’s role in bombing, spying on, and torturing Muslims throughout his two terms.

Fee Information: Booking Fees to hire speakers and celebrities are determined based on a number factors and often change without notice. Fee Ranges listed on this website are intended to serve only as a guideline. For the most current celebrity fees or to check availability, please contact a booking agent.

Please Note: All American Speakers Bureau acts only as an entertainment broker/producer for corporate functions, private engagements and special events. All American Speakers Bureau does not claim or represent itself as the exclusive booking agency, business manager, publicist, speakers bureau or management for Asra Nomani or any artists or celebrities on this website.

All American Speakers is a "buyers agent" and exclusively represents talent buyers looking to secure celebrities and speakers for personal appearances, speaking engagements, corporate entertainment, public relations campaigns, commercials and endorsements.

Profiles listed on this website are provided as a resource to our clients, which are meeting and event planners and other buyers of talent in order to provide them with the widest variety and selection of available talent. For more information on how we work and what makes us unique, please read about the All American Speakers Bureau Advantage.

Due to the volume of emails and calls we receive, we can no longer respond to inquiries related to any of the following:

Schedules of upcoming public appearances

Contact info for artists or requests to forward messages.

Artist's TV, stage or film projects or representation

Media requests for print, radio or TV interviews.

Any inquiry not related to hiring talent for paid engagements

Related Tags: Find top-rated keynote speakers, corporate entertainers and famous personalities like Asra Nomani. Find information on booking Asra Nomani for appearances, speaking engagements and endorsements. Your source for booking agency and speaker bureau contact info, as well as how to contact a celebrity talent booking agent that can book Asra Nomani, list of similar top-rated speakers for hire, what is the cost to book a top 10 motivational speaker, musician, comedian or famous athlete like Asra Nomani.

This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent.

All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information.

If you are the talent, and wish to request removal from this catalog or report an issue with your profile, please click here.

AAE is one of the premier celebrity booking agencies and top keynote speakers bureaus in the world. Let us help you find the perfect motivational speaker, celebrity, or entertainer for your next corporate event.